Hindustan zinc held a conference call on 22 April 2022 to discuss the results for the quarter ended Mar'22 and way forward. Mr. Arun Misra- Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Sandeep Modi - Interim CFO of the company addressed the call.

Highlights of the Concall

• Integrated metal production was 260000 tonne for the quarter, up 1.6% YoY while remaining almost flat sequentially. Quarterly production was supported by better plant & mined metal availability and improved operating parameters.

• Integrated zinc production was 211000 tonne, up 8.1% YoY and was 1.3% lower sequentially.

• Integrated lead production for the quarter was 49000 tonne, up 4.7% sequentially but was down 19.3% YoY as Pyro plant at CLZS was run in the Zinc-Lead mode in place of Lead-only mode.

• For FY22 overall refined metal production was 967000 tonne up 4% YoY on account of better plant & concentrate availability.

• Integrated silver production was 162 tonne, down 20.2% YoY & 6.2% sequentially in line with lead metal production. For FY22 silver production was 8.3% lower YoY to 647 tonne in line with the lower lead metal production and reduction of silver WIP.

• As at end Mar'22, the company's gross investments and cash & cash equivalents were Rs 20789 crore as compared to Rs 17040 crore as at end Dec'21 and Rs 22308 crore as at end Mar'21.

• The company has received consent to establish 30,000 tonne per annum value-added zinc alloy products plant.

• For the Fumer commissioning, visa process is in advanced stages for the technical experts. The team is likely to travel by the end of April'22 and commissioning is expected to be completed by end of Q1 FY23.

• Rajpura Dariba Mill revamping for 1.1 million tonnes per annum is underway. Construction is ongoing and the company expect commissioning to complete by Q3 FY23

• Zinc metal cost of production, excluding royalty, increased 24% YoY to Rs 85,378 per tonne impacted by a surge in input commodity prices (coal, diesel, met coke) partly offset by higher volumes and operational efficiencies.

• Zinc cost of production in FY23 is expected to be in between US$ 1,125-1,175 per tonne as compared to FY22 cost of US$ 1,122 per tonne. The project capex for the year is expected to be in the range of US$ 125-150 million.

• The company expects FY23 saleable silver production to be between 700-725 tonne.

• The company expects both mined metal and refined metal production in FY23 to be higher than last year. Mined metal is expected to be between 1,050-1,075 thousand tonne & refined metal production in the range of 1,000-1,025 thousand tonne.

• The company also looking to set up 200 MW captive green power plant by 2025

• The company has maintained its capex guidance of US$250-300 million in FY23, which includes growth capex at US$125-150 million.